Meeting boy-o's foster parents...

We have spent 1hr30 with boy-o's foster parents today, and we got to hear a lot more about him. We still feel very lucky, very blessed and as if this is the child that is meant for us.

Boy-o was described as placid and easy going. He is however, lively, boisterous and clumsy. He is very caring and will often run up to his foster parents and give them a hug for no other reason than because he wants to. He apparently cries when he doesn't get his own way (sounds like he's entering the terrible twos). He has been known to hold his breathe in annoyance, but his foster mother says she just ignores it and he gives up.

He sounds like a problem solver. He will work something out, and just when his foster parent's think that they have stopped him doing something he will figure out a way around it. Apparently he loves fruit, and they have a fruit bowl in the middle of their table; boy-o figured out that if he pulled the table cloth he could get to the fruit bowl if he climbed on the chair.

He is usually a happy chap, but can get fractious when hungry. He eats virtually anything, although isn't so keen on porridge or rice pudding.

He is a climber; and loves going upstairs but isn't so keen on walking down them properly. We think that perhaps we will be getting 2 stair gates one for the top and one for the bottom of the stairs.

He doesn't have much wrong medically. He can get chesty after a cold, but in this house with two asthmatics we can deal with that. He is tongue tied which is possibly the reason that his speech isn't as clear as it should be. He develops and grows in spurts and then has a break, it's not a gradual development. He is up to date with his vaccinations. He has been known to get infections when he has cuts in his fingers, but foster mum doesn't believe in putting anything on cuts or covering them with a plaster - we may change that if he's going to get infections.

He presently attends Playgroup 3 times a week. He will have a go at anything, and really enjoys being around adults and children. He loves soft play centres, ball pools and slides. He has no real favourite toys, or TV programmes. However, he does have some toys that he will bring with him; which are his. His foster parent's have said that he will bring clothes, toys, his sippy cup and plates and cutlery with him. He has recently had some new shoes fitted, along with some boots.

He is well attached to his foster carers, and doesn't like being left in an unfamiliar situation. However, this could be because he has recently seen two other foster children been moved on, including one that had been in the home since boy-o arrived.

His foster parent's will obviously miss him when he moves, they describe him as 'a little cracker'. His foster father said that they'd said that if no suitable adopters could be found, they would have adopted him. This worried me slightly, until our Social worker phoned after we got home and said that they couldn't have adopted him as they live too close to where his mum lives, as well as being too old.

Our social workers view point is that he is well attached, and therefore as long as his foster parent's give him permission to trust us, there should be no problems with him moving. Panel is fixed for 21st Feb, and we are to meet boy-o on 28th Feb, slightly over 6 weeks to go.

We did come home and look around and think what we needed to do and move!